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Lessons learned from Canada's famous hockey team

Several members of the 1972 Canadian hockey team were at the Holiday Inn Parkway Tuesday November 29, 2016 speaking to catholic high school students about the Summit series and experiences they gained from the tournament. From the left are Brad Park, Pat Stapleton and Marcel Dionne. Bob Tymczyszyn/St. Catharines Standard/Postmedia Network

Sometimes it comes from that perfect comment made from the sidelines, hockey great Marcel Dionne told students leaders from Niagara Catholic schools.

”Some of you are going to be leaders, but it’s not the most important thing if you’re part of a team,” said Dionne, a former top St. Catharines Blackhawks player and an NHL Hall of Famer.

“Sometimes, one guy on the team will just say something, and what he says means much more than what the leader might say,” he said. “And when you say the right thing, somebody might look at you and say, ‘Wow, that’s pretty cool.’

“For me, it’s also been to watch, listen and do the right things,” added Dionne, also a member of the famous 1972 Team Canada hockey team, who joined Pat Stapleton and Brad Park in a leadership conference held Tuesday at the Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites in St. Catharines.

Stapleton told the group as the dramatic Canada-U.S.S.R. series unfolded, the team began “respecting one another as athletes.”

“We started coming together. We realized it’s not so much what you know, it’s how much you care,” he said. “And I think the athletes started to care about one another during that series.

“It’s a real learning point for leaders like yourselves.”

Tuesday’s event was a part of a partnership with Niagara Catholic District School Board and Brock University’s Goodman School of Business called 28,800 Seconds: The Power of Teamwork.

It was launched in Niagara Falls in August as a program through which team members share stories and life lessons with student leaders.

The 28,800 Seconds refers to the time it took to play all eight games of the 1972 Summit Series, which saw Team Canada ultimately defeat the Soviet national team 4-3-1, in a series that included a heart-stopping, last-minute goal leading to a series win in Game 8.

The program was launched for students and administrators during the back-to-school director’s meeting in August, attended by team members Phil Esposito, Dennis Hull, Stapleton and Park, along with coach Harry Sinden.

The three Tuesday were asked to reflect on what they learned, game by game, in the famous hockey series, and how that translates into leadership skills.

“When I look back about the whole thing about leadership, and the things you need to build confidence — this event did that,” said Dionne. “I am 65 years old and I still think of it.”

Earlier, he said there was no doubt about what a landmark event the hockey series was.

“If we lost I don’t know if I’d be here today … that’s how crucial this thing was for the National Hockey League and the country.”

A number of Niagara Catholic student leaders also reflected on lessons learned.

“A lot of it was how they overcame their obstacles … in order to win the ’72 series” said Kira Petriello, 16, from Denis Morris High School.

“I feel I can take that back to my own experiences in my own life and with my school, and use the same ideas,” said the Niagara Catholic board student senate co-chair in an interview.

Nico Tripodi, 16, from Saint Francis Secondary School, said the most compelling part of the Power of Teamwork event “is the way we’re able to historically connect something so significant to Canadian history, with real-life leadership applications for students in school (who are) leaders.”

“These leadership techniques that are taught are really applicable,” said Tripodi, also a student senate co-chair.

For Luca DiPietro, 13, at St. John School in Beamsville, the heart of an event such as Power of Teamwork is “what we put into it, is what we’re going to get out of it.”

“With this experience we have the opportunity to change Canada and make a better Canada,” said DiPietro, who is co-chair of the Niagara Catholic elementary student senate.

“We have so many teams in our lives, even if it’s not a professional hockey team, we have our class teams and with this conference we can learn how to … blend together and become closer together.”